Posts from the ‘Rockin’ Whorl Club’ Category

Well I was going to start this post all about turning 60 and everything that goes along with that but then I walked outside and noticed very, very bad smell.

I am pretty sure that either there was a skunk incident on my front porch last night and it was afraid and then let it’s fear fly or it crawled under my porch and died or ( and this makes me wanna cry ) a skunk has decided to nest under my porch.

I am seriously hoping it is not the latter. I have a small dog and three cats and the chickens and the cats would surely get sprayed and then there’s the fact that skunks really really like chickens. Oy. So this weekend I get to figure this all out. I have my fingers crossed and am hoping the smell goes away and that is the end of it.

So a few newsy things first. If you are a Rockin’ Whorl Club member we were going to ship out early in the week by the locks were not dry. It has taken all week for them to dry and I have a huge dehumidifier in the dye barn. I am to blame I thought I had previously washed these but I had not! Anyway we will be packing it all up this weekend and shipping it out to you on Monday! Thank you for your patience!

As I mentioned in last weeks newsletter our new price list will be going into effect on June 19th.

Rockin’ Sock Club members you might want to use your 20% off coupon code before the 19th to take advantage of the current prices. we are raising prices a ton but every little bit helps.

We have a few specials going on right now.

We have TREATYOURMOMSELF 15% off good until Monday May 22nd and…

springtwistalong 25% off our Seduction and La Luna Lace for the Spring Hiatus Twist KAL good until June 1st.

And then starting June 1 we have our Tour de Sock KAL discount which is good from June 1st to July first and you can find once you sign up for the KAL.

Also I made two new colorways for this years Tour de Sock. I hope you love them as much as I do. I’m having a whole lot of fun with orange right now! One of the new colorways I am putting up next week is a new Tipsy colorway, an orange one!!

It time for a color change!!

Here’s a list of the colorways that are going to have a bit of a vacation starting Monday!

Okay now unto the fact that on May 29th I turn 60 years old. I know…how did that happen. Actually I am pretty thrilled to be here to turn 60 so I am celebrating with everything that I have and I would love for you to join me. Some of what I have a lot of is, love and gratitude laced with a fair bit of quirky. So we are going to be spreading both of these around in the next week.

One of the ways we are going to do this is that everyone person who order from this moment in time until midnight May 31st gets a love note postcard from me in their package with a 10% off coupon good for your next order! We will also be randomly choosing from all of those orders 6 of you that win a skein of Socks that Rock of your choosing in a wonderful JAMPDX mug. We will also be choosing another 4 that will win a skein of our Yaksi Fingeringweight yarn in the color of your choice in a lovely Queen Bee bag! I know! I totally want to win these!

And…if that were not enough and it is not. I would like to play an instagram game I just have not quite figured it out yet so stay tuned in the next few days for that! Here is our instagram feed.

It’s been awhile since we had a tell me your color story and I will make you a colorway game so we are going to do that here on the blog.

What you do is tell me a color story. I love a good story!!! I am not going to give you any limits this time. It can be any kind of story as long as you are descriptive.

Try not to make it too long. I am in the process of training three new dyers so my attention span is a little low at the end of the day. Also that whole turning 60 thing!! You have until June 1st. Then I will choose 4 of these stories and I will create them in living color on yarn.

You can smell the first hints of fall in the air, especially early in the morning when it is still a little dewy. You can see it in the garden as everything ripens and goes to seed and then there’s my favorite, the turning of the leaves, which is just beginning. It certainly does not feel like Fall here. It is super duper hot.

Since Autumn is my very favorite season I start thinking and planning our new colorways pretty early. I have been at it for a few weeks and makings notes and testing for even longer. What this means is that it is time for a color change which is a little hard cause I feel like we just put some of these colorways up.

That was hard. I tried to send Dearly Beloved to the Spa but I just can’t yet. Sigh….

If there are any of our pre-existing Fall type colorways that you would like to see make a return please let us know in the comments section of this post. If you have some Autumn color wishes for new colorways you can also post here int he comments.

I was thinking that we should also do a few days of Holiday colorways.What do you think?

Okay so it has been a bit of a week here so this is going to be a short and sweet blog post. I also am super late getting it up today!

Lots and lots of Crackpaca is hanging from the rafters!! If you want in on this first mill run and intro special pricing you might want to order soon. I went out to the barn and pulled some aside for me. Don’t worry it was only a few.

Maryland Sheep and Wool is next weekend! we have sent a massive amount of yarn to Toni of The Fold. We sent new colors and new yarns along with tons of sock yarn and roving and Rare Gems and … . Seriously I do not know where she is going to put it all! Toni will also have stunning knit samples from both Carol Feller and Shannon Squire. Carol and Shannon were both generous enough to offer pattern discounts with your yarn purchase and Toni has all of that information.

Both of these beauties will be at Toni’s booth!

The only thing that that is Blue Moon that Toni will not have there is me. One of these days!

Toni will be in barn 3 booth 18 Right across form the t-shirt concession.

Random act of knitness #2

Sunday May 1st the Tour de Sock sign-ups begin. Yay!! Also… on a separate note how is it already May?

Below is our 2016 Tour de Sock colorway offering. I wanted to do something a little different this year. So… little drops of dye in all the tour colors marching down the skein. Just enough color change! I can’t wait to see this knit in all sorts of patterns!

You’ll find the all of the discount information on the Tour de Sock page once you sign-up. We’ve shaken things up a bit this year by offering the discount for all of our fingering weight yarn bases used for sock knitting, not just Sock that Rock, and for the first 5 days the discount is 15% !!!! On May 6th it goes down 10%.

Random act of knitness # 3

What better time to introduce a few new colors!!!

Dearly Beloved…

Wabi Sabi

Black Dragon Wisteria

Pesto Presto

My favorite of these is of course Dearly Beloved… .

Random act of knitness #4

Since it is almost Mother’s Day and we usually do offer a little something special we have scoured the pod and come of with some Mill End Mystery Bags!

They are up in Socks that Rock lightweight and mediumweight while our supply lasts!

Random act of knitness #5

We have the first of our summer KAL series upon us. We are working with the supremely talented Carol Feller. I love working with Carol and am really looking forward to everyone’s color choices and end knit.Stay tune on Tuesday for that announcement from her and us!

I am in the dye barn a whole lot right now working on all kinds of color fun! I am going to post this and head right back out to the barn to do some grading. So much fun!!!!

Have a great weekend my dear knitters. my youngest is coming home from college on Saturday for the summer so I am pretty excited for this weekend.

I start my day early usually a little before 5 am. I know… sometimes it’s a little brutal ~ like today. I am a morning person so most days it works for me.

However today was a little rough. Out of bed I got myself, straight to the coffee pot and out to the barn to prep for the days dyeing. While I was waiting for the tubs and sinks to fill with wool washing and soaking water I decided to console myself with a little color. I am a huge Prince fan and his death yesterday left me reeling a bit.

So I broke out the dye and a few skeins of yarn and did a little grief dyeing.

A little Raspberry Beret sitting in a Little Red Corvette all drenched in Purple Rain, as the Dove Cry!

Sigh!

Sad…

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Okay…before I announce our winners I have a few bits and pieces of news. The first is we have finally decided on a date for our DYE DAY and BARN SALE!!

Saturday June 11th is the big day!
It is such a fun day of playing with color and all kinds of yarn and fibers we do hope you will join us.

Here are the details:

We have yarn bases and roving you can purchase to dye and we will be on hand to guide you in your dye journey for the day. You’ll hand-paint and also have access to an indigo vat for dipping and any other color fun we can cook up. We have a wicked new drum carder, so if you are a spinner you can make yourself a batt or two. .

In order to accommodate everyone in a way that assures the most positive experience for us all, we take reservations for the dye aspect of our day. The reservations are $15.00 which holds your spot and goes toward the cost of the day. Each time slot is 2 hours long, a good amount of time for a hand-painting experience. We will be there to give you the basics and to hold your hand as you bring your color vision to life on yarn (or roving). If you feel like you need more than two hours for your hand-painting experience please do sign up for more than one slot.

There are 4 time slots on Saturday June 11th: 9:00am to 11:00am, 11:00am to 1:00pm, 1:30pm to 3:30pm and the last slot is 3:30pm to 5:30pm. Please arrive early to pick out what you want to dye. Those of you with the 9:00 am slot can come at 8:30 to pick your yarn.

If you are coming just for the Barn Sale you do not need reservations. However, yarn leaves here pretty fast so come early!

BARN SALE hours are 9:00 to 5:00 on Saturday June 11th @ the big red barn in the land of Blue Moon 56587 Mollenhour Rd. Scappoose 97056

We will post directions on the blog the week before the sale.

The next 3 offerings of the Rockin’ whorl Club are LIVE!! As I mentioned last week we will be blending our little spinning hearts out. You can read all about the details on the spinning club page of the website. You will see that one of the offerings is batts!! One can’t really explore blending without considering batts! Just a heads up we will be limiting sign-ups because of the making of the batts. We are going to have so much fun!

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Okay so now without further ado the winners of our sweet story contest. Choosing these is always hard for me but this time even more so because some of the colorways would look the same because of all the berry pie/cobbler stories. Obviously we all have similar pie memories and loves!

Thank you all so very much for sharing your stories with us all. I loved each and every one!!

1. LeAnn for her Blackberry Birthday

2. liselov for a great story and seriously for an obviously great love for your husband and he for you! Also cause I really want to make a frozen flower filled ice colorway and… maybe a broccoli crispie treats colorway.

4. Meglette for her Chukar Cherry Cheescake story. I have a weakness for cheesecake and seriously want a slice ( or two) of this one!

Please email paula@bluemoonfiberarts.com for your prize skein once I get these colorways created. Should be about 2 weeks.

I think that cover things for now! We have gotten all of your Featherlight and Super Sparkle yarn dyed and most if it shipped out. In hind-sight I so wish I had called this yarn BLING! And yes, I am possessed by the sparkle. If you were in the barn with it all hanging around you, you would so understand.

You know, I have all of these grand intentions during the week that involve sitting down with a cup of tea for a few minutes to write you and share what wonder and craziness has happened that day or is going down in the barn, with the yarn, color and life. And then I look up and it’s Thursday night and well…here we are.

Kate and her team have out done themselves. I so love all the bright colors and light and springy knits! The photography for Pedal Pushers and Queena Lee’s, Anyolite is super cute. What I am super excited about though is the Deja Vu series where Kate has revisited some of stunning knits Twist has brought us over the years with a new twist (pun intended) a different yarn base. I am excited for a few reasons but the biggest one is that one of my all time favorite Twist sweater designs by the talented Marnie MacLean was the one that Kate wanted to use my yarn for!!

Don’t you just love the lines of this cardi? I think Jean-Luc would be honored by such a woolly tribute. I love this piece so much I am thinking we should do some sort of fun Trekkie KAL! Stay tuned… .

The dye barn is so busy these days what with the orders for the new yarns and the dyeing for Maryland Sheep and Wool which is all kinds of fun. We are sending our new yarns, some new colors and some of our fun Color Story color-work kits in our lovely new single finger-weight Featherlight. If there is anything you would like to see yarn or color wise please do let us know! As usual the oh so charming, and wonderful, Toni Neil of The Fold, will have all sorts of Blue Moon goodness.

Our new yarns, Featherlight and Super Sparkle, SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY PRICING will end this coming Monday morning at 10:00 am Pacific time!

I have to tell you the barn looks extra pretty with all the shades of Super Sparkle hanging from the rafters! When the sun hits them just right it’s quite magical. it’s like there are fairies in the barn flying around the yarn.

Another Special is on our Silkie Socks that Rock. We are at the end of our huge lot and we have yet to decide if we will continue to make it. There really is only so much room in the barn and we have added quite a few new yarn bases so far this year with a few more to come!

So my friends while our supply lasts Silkie Socks that Rock will be 17.00 instead of the usual 24.00. We do not have a ton of it left so if you feel the need to add it to your “yarn love” stash now is the time!

I have been plotting and planning the next installment of the Rockin’ Whorl Club so that will go up for sale next week. We are going to be all about the blending and blends this go around! We will talk about what breeds and fiber-types work well together in a blend and why. We will also play with how to spin it (worsted or woolen or in between) and ply it for what kind of yarn it would be best suited for and then again for what kind of knit!! Of course we will also explore blending in relationship to colors and textures.

We might get a little crazy!

I do hope you will join us.

I want to thank everyone who took the time to write their super sweet, desert stories. They are wonderful! So wonderful in fact that I am having a hard time choosing. So I am going to take the weekend to mull it over and consult with Team Blue Moon. I do find this to be the hardest part, the choosing.

Oh I just thought of something! I do post what we are up to in the barn on instagram during the week. So if you are there give us a follow @bluemoonfiberarts.

On the color side of life we added some of our favorites back to the site yesterday. Also I created some new colorways for Maryland including official Maryland Sheep and Wool one. I also made this years Tour de Sock colorway. I have to tell you I am pretty tickled with myself over this one. So much fun!!

There’s so much going on in the next few weeks, it makes this dyer’s head spin.

Okay first let’s talk about our little BFL Fingering Sale. So we sold 800 skeins of it last weekend when we marked it down. In case you didn’t know…that’s a mega -****- ton of yarn to dye. So it might take us a little longer than usual to dye it all up.

It is super pretty hanging from the rafters, in all of it’s light and airy goodness. I truly am going to be sad to say goodbye to this yarn.

Oh well… when a door closes another one opens right? And that is so true here. Remember the small lot of Single Silk Targhee we had before Christmas that I was trying to convince the mill to make for us? Guess what? THEY ARE!!! Hopefully it will be here in April. I am so very excited. We are going to create such wonderful knit goodness with this yarn.

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Coastal Yarns in Cannon Beach is celebrating it’s 10th Anniversary this month. Since they have been one of our flagship yarns stores and we love them tons we have created a super special colorway to commemorate this occasion.

I’m pretty tickled with how this colorway came out. when you open the skein you have the end of the sunset when it is all dusky and mysterious. The blue-green oceany depths with the setting sun hues as they play out over the sand on one end of the skein and the sky on the other end of the skein. Yeah…pretty charmed.

Footprints in the sand gradually making their way into the waves. You can almost feel the ocean lapping at your toes.

Photo Credit: Stefan Lombard

Shannon and Sherry have a KAL planned so be sure to check that out and all the other fun the wonderful team at Coastal has planned for the month!

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See all of this peachy goodness!

Well we have these and a few more so you know what that means? We need to send some of the colorways up on the website off to the spa. Here is list of the ones that we are sending off next week. So, if you need to add some to your stash now is the time!

We shipped out the Rockin’ Whorl Club yesterday and we sent out the email with the Dyer’s Notes too.

I so love the quiet early mornings. Right before dawn, like and hour, when all that are home are still dreaming away all cozy in their beds and the world outside my window is just thinking about lighting the day. I especially love it during the holidays when my house is filled once again with my kids and the day ahead is sure to be filled with cooking, sharing, singing, maybe some pie baking dance moves and lots and lots of laughter.

If I could only choose one thing to be thankful for I would choose my family in a heart beat. I think most of us would. Luckily, my reasons to feel grateful do not end there. I have a pretty much never ending list to feel gratitude and thanks for. I am truly blessed. Even last year when I was heavy into fighting breast cancer I felt so very blessed in so many ways. One of the things I learned from my cancer was that there is always, always a reason for gratitude.

So on this quiet morning before the coffee timer kicks in and the oven is lit for baking I wanted to take a moment to say a really huge THANK YOU to you, our knitters, spinners, crocheters, weavers, dyers, makers who make it possible for us to do what we love to do and support our families while doing so. You are the very best!

We started a few weeks backs to runs specials. we are ding this for the holidays and to give back a little something to you our loyal fiber loving friends. Right now we have our SilkMO Specialwhich you can read more about here and will run for another week. We had a Mill End Special which we all love. (Thank you for making our end of year inventory counting much better!)

Starting now we are offering our super luscious and bulky Sookie on sale until Tuesday, December 1st. If you have yet to try our Sookie now is the time. At 15% off it’s quite the steal. And because of it’s bulky component an excellent last minute knitting project yarn. I am using it for cowls, mittens and hats. You want it close to your skin it is so soft and warm. A prefect winter knit and wear. It’s freezing here and I so wish I was done with the cowl I have on the needles. Discount code: SOOKIE2105

A lot of you have requested a return of our Winter Wonder bags.

So here they are with a bit of a new twist in fiber and color. We are using a new yarn. Ranier made by my friend Jim and just so lovely! It’s DK weight superwash merino. It has a really good spin and ply on it, enhancing it’s natural elasticity. Each kits has 5 – 100 yd skeins all color themed for your holiday fun and knitting pleasure.

I really hope you enjoy them as much as I did putting them together for you.

And….I have saved the very very best for last. Remember a few weeks ago when I told you I had some super exciting new yarns to introduce you to?

Introducing for a limited run!

Tigger Targhee and Single Silky Targhee.

YAY!!!! More Targhee!

While I talk the mill into making these in a more permanent way we have a limited amount of each of these. I have kept the pricing down as an introductory new yarn and holiday special.

I love all of the yarn we offer here at Blue Moon. I am telling you this so the other yarns will not feel jealous once I start talking about the wonderful attributes of these two.

I have to tell you I have not been as excited about a new yarn as I am about these two in quite awhile.

I’m more than a little in love with this yarn. It’s made from our lovey Targhee from Montana with the addition of just a bit ( 30%) of unbleached tussah silk . Soft, silky with just the slightest bet of texture from that wonderful Targhee crimp. I have been knitting on it for a few weeks now and the only reason I stop knitting on it, is to switch to knit with the Tigger or Sookie so… . ( I know. I am lucky. )

I have about 160 skeins of this and they will go fast. So get it while you can and then keep your fingers crossed. Once you knit with it you are going to want a whole lot more of this dreamy yarn. All our testers on this yarn wanted at least a sweater’s quantity. I actually think I might dye myself a sweater’s worth before it is all gone.

Just in case! Or maybe that jinxes the process of getting it again. Hmm… . I’ll wait. Also that leaves more for you.

side note: As I sit here writing to you my girls are int he other room giggling. Sophie is home from college for the weekend and they have not seen each other since August. I just love that sound! It never ever gets old, does it?

Okay….

Onto our Tigger Targhee. I will tell you right now that I am possessed by this yarn. I am sure at this point of all the people I work with are so over me telling them all about this yarn. That is, until they knit with it.

I have not been so enthralled by a yarn since we created Socks that Rock.

I know… . That is a big statement. Well here is why.

As I have said before, I fell in love with Targhee sheep and their wonderful wool years ago when I had loads of spinning time. It’s so lofty that you expect it to just float away and you want it to take you with it! It might not be super soft like a very fine merino, but in my opinion it’s just soft enough with more durability than an ultra fine fiber. It’s all in that crimp. The elasticity that Targhee brings to the table make its softness less slippery and more like a cloud. Well, at least what I imagine a cloud to be like.

Now, take this elastic fiber and make it into a cabled yarn. A cabled fingering weight yarn, no less. Why is it so great that it is a cabled yarn? I will tell you. A cabled yarn is taking two (or more) 2 ply yarns and then plying them back on themselves in the opposite direction ( of course). There are many reason to make a cabled yarn. One of those reasons is that is makes for a strong abrasion resistant yarn. Which makes it a really good type of yarn for sock knitting and is why we are exciting about Tigger. We are also excited because it is 100% untreated ( not superwashed) Targhee. Some knitters are not huge fans of superwash yarns or the process it involves so having an alternative is pretty exciting.

This super stretchy wonder of a yarn that makes me so happy. The combination of the cable process and the crimp on Targhee is the perfect storm of a yarn! It feels as good to knit as it does to wear. I think the possibilities with our super-bounce, fun-fun-fun, Tigger Targhee are endless, just endless. Every single person I have given it to test knit with just loves it. I think you will too. We have tested it as a sock yarn. Yes, even with no superwash we think it is a good sock yarn because of the aforementioned cabled aspect. We have knit socks and washed them in a washer and dried them in a dryer and they faired well.

Now… would I do that all the time? No. But then I do not do that with my superwash knits either. What it means is that they will wear well. And with all that stretch, they are super cozy.

I can’t wait to see what you think. I hope you will give our Tigger a go and help me convince the mill to make this for us.

Phew that was a lot.

I am going to leave you with all of this a go start baking with my girls while we wait for my son and dil.

Wow! This sure has been a week. I don’t know about you but I,for one, am pretty thrilled that it is Friday! We had a big storm and lost our internets for a whole day which really slows things down. It did mean I got to go to pdx and work at my favorite pub so that was fun. So much wind and rain!

Okay so I have lot to tell you so I will just jump right in.

The new Winter Twist Collective is live. Have you seen it? There’s some pretty wonderful knits there so if you have not taken a gander the weekend is a good time to do so with a nice cup of the beverage of your coice and a quiet corner. There are two designs using our yarns. One is a wickedly creative out of the box shawl by Lana Jois called KizzleKazzle, I am so intrigued by. I find myself wanting to knit it just to see how it works. When Kate talked to me about supplying the yarn for this design she told me she thought that this was one of those knits that would bend our minds and inspire our creativity. Also they are stunning! I would like to feel that scarf wrapped around my neck in this cold weather. I bet it is super cozy since it is our Gaea Fingering. Which brings us to another cool aspect of this design. The shawl is knit in Gaea Sport and the scarf in Gaea Fingering. Yeah!! So the applications are endless for that stitch pattern.

I love a design that is not only beautiful and functional but also inspires! Thank you Lana and Kate for including us in this super fun project!

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The second design is a striking raglan turtleneck called Spalle by Angela Hahn. Do you see the lines in this sweater. Stunning! In my opinion Spalle is a classic sweater and a good addition to our winter wardrobe and knit basket. I especially like that is is knit from the bottom up in the round in one piece. If I was a skier I would so be knitting this to wear on the slopes. Thank you Angela!

A reminder: If you are planning to join the December 7th IN Triplicate KAL we need your yarn order so we can get it to you in time! When you purchase the e-book from Lee, Shannon and Star there is a discount code good for 10% of you yarn purchase with us. Also the Loopy Ewe has a whole bunch of our Gaea Sport in stock so no waiting. Please note that the discount code is only good at Blue Moon! I think I am going to use green, yellow and white and knit gifts for my son and his wife. Those are the Timbers (soccer) colors and they are HUGE fans and…we are winning!! I think Timbers super hero mitts would be just thing thing!

Our SilkMO Special is going strong. I often wish our knitters could stand in the barn under all the yarn hanging to dry. It’s so pretty and just plain wonderful to be surrounding by color and texture in that way. This is especially true right now with all of the SilkMO hanging form the rafters. It’s like colorful fluffy clouds. We are having so much fun with this I think we will keep it going until after Thanksgiving.

I admit I am curious as to the plans for all of this mohair so please do share pictures with us when you are done with your projects!

Oh which reminds me I wanted to mention how wonderful your color choices for the Targhee Bulky for our BASS offerings, She Said, He Said are. Just yummy! I can’t wait to see them knit up.

I was in Twisted yesterday dropping off their yarn ( side note: Twisted is full of Blue Moon right now!) and Kat was there. We got to chatting, as we do, about this and that. I mentioned her cowl and how great it would look in our Sookie. She agreed! She also told me that it was an hour knit. Now…maybe that is true for her but I do not knit anything in an hour. I dyed some Sookie in Antiquated System yesterday and am going to knit Tofino this weekend. If in fact this is an hour or so knit, then I am golden for the holidays!

Look at it! It’s so pretty and fun!

Okay so this is turning into a super long blog post so I am going to sign off. First the RSC 2016 will be live next week for gift certificate purchases.

Also, I promised you new and exciting this week and it is there on the website but I am going to let you find it. I want to talk in great detail about these two new wonders and will do so on Monday. In the mean time you can see what you find! A bit of a treasure hunt if you will.

Oh and I almost forgot.

Check out Churchmouse’s big reveal this weekend. It’s pretty exciting!! Remember when I said I felt a bit like a dye spy recently with all of the secret colorway making. Well… this was one of my secret dye missions!

okay so before signing off please join me in welcoming to the Blue Moon family of Local Yarn Stores. We are thrilled to be working with these wonderful LYS’s!

As you can see from the picture we have been busy pulling out all kinds of magic from our cauldron of color in honor of the approaching All Hallows Eve celebration. It has been quite spooktacular in the barn as of late with lots and lots of tricks and also a few treats!

Okay so here is what we have for your Halloween trick or treating!

* Remember a few years back we did actual Trick or Treat color themed bags? Well we have a few of those and are offering them for sale this weekend. There are not a ton of them so get them while you can! We are sending out a newsletter this afternoon and they will be live for sale then when you get it.

* We are also offering our Mystery Mill End Bags for sale again since the mystery of it all is a bit like trick or treating! Don’t worry no tricks, just the mystery of me picking your colors. I was putting these together last night and was thinking of how much fun I have making up these bags. It really is just the best color matchy/matchy game. I wait until everyone has gone for the day. I crank up the tunes and just have myself the best time. If it is late enough in the day I might even enjoy a cold beer while I pair up skeins. I think it would make a great party game, for knitters of course. I also have these lovely moments as I choose a pairing, when I am remind of a friend, designer, or one of you dear knitters. I have them in my hand and I think to myself; well, wouldn’t Nathania just love all of these maroons and teals, and oh my, this peach would just tickle Hazel to no end and these fall rusts and reds would make Gaily so very happy and this orange would have Lisa and Shannon both weak in the knees. It’s just lovely and one of the ways I feel like my job is a blessing. So many lovely people I am connected to through a shared love of yarn and color!

Happy sigh!

These two made my heart sing! I still put them in a bag for shipping out on Tuesday which was super hard.

We have all three weights of sock yarn available and as with the Trick or Treat bags the numbers are limited so get your treat while they are hot so you do not end up being tricked by time. Time is a wicked trickster! These will also be live when the newsletter goes out thi afternoon.

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See this skein of beauty?

It is our SilkMo in Sadie Sue Tipsy. Stunning yes? And I will tell you so very soft and airy, a joy to knit with and wear or snuggle under.

I love our SilkMo!!! Because of this love I am on a bit of a mohair mission. I am starting this mission by running a special on our SilkMo. We sell it to you in a 3.75oz. /106g and 794yds / 726m skein. It comes to us twice that size! So for a limited time when you order SilkMo instead of getting the usual size skein you will receive a 1452 yd skein. So very much SilkMo…the things you’d could make!

I want a throw and am contemplating color for such a luxury. I am pretty hooked on Sadie Sue Tipsy at the moment but we’ll see.

The next installment of the Rockin” Whorl Club is Live! I know. I said I was done. I said I had no time and all that but, I just miss it too much. So here we are. I’m pretty excited about this next grouping. We are going to play with differing types of Superwash blends for spinning sock yarns. Don’t knit socks? No worries, there are also all kinds of other yarn types we can cover with these blends. So excited to explore this theme a little more. Last time I delved into sock yarn making, Socks that Rock was born.

I hope you’ll join me on this spinning adventure.

*Last but not least a contest.

You know how I feel about stories. So I thought since it is Halloween and us witches here at Blue Moon do love a good ghost story I thought maybe we could have a tell your favorite scary ghost type Halloween story contest.

The contest will run until November 1st . Please post your stories in the comment section of this blog post. We will pick the top three ghostiest stories as winners. The prize will be a 20% off coupon code good until December 31st.

One thing…not too much straight up gore please. We are talking, around the campfire ghost stories.

A peak at our most critical judge/dyer taking a much needed knit break.

I think that covers it for now. I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Seriously, when Shannon told me that she named this cowl Ditty I almost choked on my tea. Ditty is a stunning and cozy cowl knit out of our super soft and very bulky Sookie, so the chances of it being a little Ditty is pretty funny. A Ditty it is though. I’m having a pretty heavy duty love affair with a few of our new yarns right now and Sookie is at the very top of the list. It is sinfully soft and lofty. I just want to dump a few bales of it on the floor of the dye barn, curl up in it and take a very long cat nap. Once you start knitting with Sookie you are not going to be able to stop. Really, I kid you not, one skein is not going to be enough. You will not be able to knit just one! Lucky for us that Ditty is a quick knit so you don’t have to knit just one.

Shannon’s Ditty is the perfect fun cozy quick Holiday knit. Anyone you gift this cozy cowl with will be thrilled and super warm all winter long. What better way to fight of the winter blues than with a not, so little, Ditty. You can purchase Shannon’s Ditty here!

Ditty Photo credit: Stefan Lombard

That is a whole lot of knit-love but wait…there’s more!

As I am sure you’ve seen Twist Collective’s Winter Issue is live! It is stunning. Absolutely every knit thing is wonderful. A round of appreciative knitterly applause to Kate Gilbert and her team for constantly going that extra step. Just when you think she cannot possible top herself she does! Thank you Kate for all of the hard work I know goes into each and every issue! You have our undying and also our dyed (in the wool) love.

Caldera designed by one of Blue Moon’s dear friends, the talented and very clever Sandi Rosner, is a stunning pullover with exquisite detail work in the ribbing and what looks to be the coziest of button down cowl collars. I love the detail on the ribbing and how flattering the shaping is. The colorway’s not to shabby either. Sandi used our luxurious Gaea in the colorway Blue for Ewe. Seeing Caldera in Blue for Ewe makes me wish I looked better in blues. I was pretty excited when Sandi told me she was designing something for Twist with my Gaea and now that I have seen Caldera in all of her glory I am beyond thrilled. Hmmm…what color to dye to this lovely piece for me? Maybe Grimm Green? Adding a little green to blue usually works for me. Caldera Photo Credit: Jame Brittain

A embarrassment of riches! I have to say all of this wonderful designs by these creative women feels a bit overwhelming. I don’t know how to choose, I love them all so much! Maybe, if I am a good little knitter, Santa will leave these under the tree for me ( they certainly will not fit in my stocking).

Thank you Shannon, Sandi and Carol for sharing your design talents with us! We are ever so grateful.

Speaking of gratitude, we here at Blue moon would like to say THANK YOU to all of you, knitters, spinners, crocheters, weavers… who make it possible for us to do what we love! Also a very special Thank you to our LYS’s who make up such an integral and fun branch of our Blue Moon family.

To our fibery, spinner friends, we are putting the next installment of the Rockin’ Whorl Spinning Club up for sale this week. Yes, just in time for holiday gift giving and receiving. I’m so very excited about this offering. There’s a blend I’ve been lusting after having for quite awhile now and a fiber that is a bit new to me and one that is an very dear old friend. I hope you’ll join me again as we explore these fiber types and spin our fiber tales!

Our holiday shipping deadlines: Based on what we know of USPS holiday shipping madness, we kindly request you have your holiday dyeing needs to us by the 10th of December so we can make sure you have then in time for the holidays. Remember you can also purchase a Blue Moon gift certificate for the knitter you love!